Our Team

My birthplace was in a little town in northern China where Oberlin College supported the work of a small college. It had the feeling of a little community of people where Chinese students could receive further educational opportunities and trainings. Each year a few graduating students from Oberlin College in Ohio would go there for two years to teach English, participate in the other aspects of the program and experience the life of these Chinese people and their culture. My Father participated in this program. Upon returning to America, he returned to the University studying agriculture. A few years later he went back to this school in China, now with my mother, to establish and develop an Agricultural School within this educational work. His dedication to this task came out of the great concern he had for the poverty of these people and the help needed to extend practices and methods for increasing production in all aspects of the care of land and animals. With the onset of World War II, it was no longer possible to be a part of this work at which time we moved to America where my Father worked for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture followed by heading up many of the significant foreign aid programs in China, Taiwan and Korea following the war.

My college years were spent at Oberlin College where I met Paul Scharff. In 1953 we were married following which time I finished college and taught kindergarten and primary school classes for several years, while Paul finished medical school and his internship. Two years with the Public Health Service followed.

During this time we considered places where we would like to move to establish our work and lives together. Certain individuals, as well as the intentions of the work at the Threefold Farm, took us to what is now Chestnut Ridge, NY in 1959. Here residency training continued and seven years later, after many preliminary steps, we worked together with others to dedicate a new work – the beginning of the Fellowship Community. As the endeavor had needed variances and approval by the Town of Ramapo, it was finally headlined in the Journal News as having received support to evolve “An Experiment in Long Term Care”. Over the years our four children Christopher, Michael, Katherine and John joined us and joined into the unfolding of this unique community endeavor. Further aspects of these many years can be found in the biography of Dr. Scharff.

Archivist/Editor – I met Dr.Paul Scharff in the early 70’s and he has remained my doctor, mentor and friend since then. My studies of the work of Dr. Rudolf Steiner began with Eleven European Mystics, a recommendation by Dr. Scharff in the 70’s and I continue to study and work to understand what these and other individualities have given in the light of Anthroposophy. I spent the last 25 years in the computer industry and will be applying my skill set to the role of archivist for Dr. Scharff’s extensive, valuable and important work.

Volunteer/Copy Editing – I live with Manuela in Colombia, a land of mestization, and recently moved to the countryside from the city.
Anthroposophy came through Juana, daughter of Jairo Gonzalez. She referred me an institute where Waldorf pedagogy was taught, and I did an introductory yearly course in 2015. Around 2014-15 in a visit with Jairo Gonzalez in Bogota I learned about the Fellowship Community. He mentioned that Paul, the cofounder, had recently passed away. Volunteering at the Community was also spoken about.
Through the mediation of Jairo and Rona I had the chance to go and stay in the autumn 2016, then in the autumn 2017 through summer 2018, and a last visit in the winter of 2019-20.
A beautiful and enriching experience, magical, surrounded by the warmth and love of the people of the Fellowship Community,
the living experiment started by Paul, Ann, and others,a seed that goes inside one’s heart.